Stock Markets April 29, 2026 11:03 PM

OpenAI surpasses 10GW U.S. AI compute target far earlier than planned

Stargate reaches 10 gigawatts just over a year after launch, with continued site assessments amid questions about revenue and user growth

By Jordan Park ORCL NVDA MSFT
OpenAI surpasses 10GW U.S. AI compute target far earlier than planned
ORCL NVDA MSFT

OpenAI announced it has exceeded its goal of securing 10 gigawatts of AI computing capacity in the United States years ahead of its original 2029 timeline under the Stargate program. The company added more than 3 gigawatts in the past 90 days, said Stargate is a $500 billion infrastructure effort developed with partners including Oracle, NVIDIA and Microsoft, and noted it is evaluating more data centre locations even as a Wall Street Journal report flagged missed internal revenue and user growth targets.

Key Points

  • OpenAI reached its U.S. 10 gigawatt AI compute target years ahead of the 2029 timetable established for the Stargate initiative.
  • Stargate is a $500 billion program covering data centres, power and chips, developed with partners including ORCL, NVDA and MSFT, plus utilities and local governments.
  • OpenAI added over 3 gigawatts in the past 90 days and is assessing additional data centre locations to expand capacity further.

OpenAI said on Wednesday that it has already exceeded its objective to secure 10 gigawatts of artificial intelligence computing capacity within the United States, accomplishing the milestone several years before the original 2029 target date set under its Stargate initiative.

The achievement comes just over a year after Stargate was launched, and OpenAI highlighted that more than 3 gigawatts of capacity were added in the last 90 days alone. The company framed the rapid build-out as a necessary step to train more sophisticated AI models, to scale deployments and to satisfy growing demand from businesses, developers and governments.

Stargate is described by OpenAI as a $500 billion AI infrastructure program intended to create the computing backbone for advanced AI. The initiative covers the development of large-scale data centres, power supply arrangements and high-performance chips. OpenAI said the effort is being carried out with partners that include Oracle (NYSE:ORCL), NVIDIA (NASDAQ:NVDA) and Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT), as well as various utilities and local governments.

In addition to announcing the 10 gigawatt milestone, OpenAI said it is evaluating additional data centre sites across the country as it looks to expand capacity further.


At the same time, OpenAI faces scrutiny about the sustainability of heavy infrastructure spending. A recent Wall Street Journal report said the company missed internal targets for revenue and user growth, including falling short of its goal to reach one billion weekly users for ChatGPT, and noted those shortfalls have raised concerns about OpenAI's ability to sustain high levels of compute investment.

The company did not provide new financial figures or a detailed timeline for further expansion in its announcement. Instead, the statement emphasized the connection between growing compute power and the operational needs of training and deploying larger AI models.

As OpenAI evaluates additional sites and continues to increase capacity, the company’s approach links large-scale infrastructure development with demand from customers across public and private sectors, while questions about revenue and user metrics remain part of the public discussion.

Risks

  • A Wall Street Journal report said OpenAI missed internal revenue and user growth targets, including falling short of a one billion weekly users goal for ChatGPT - raising concerns about the ability to sustain heavy infrastructure spending (impacts: technology, cloud services, corporate finance).
  • Uncertainty around the pace and location of further expansion as OpenAI assesses additional data centre sites - potential implications for utilities, local governments and the AI infrastructure supply chain.

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